The present disclosure relates generally to medical imaging, and particularly to the generation of object image slices.
Conventional (projection) X-ray imaging does not allow for viewing of detailed cross-sections of tissue structures at a predetermined depth. Tomosynthesis is an advanced application in X-ray radiographic imaging that allows retrospective reconstruction of an arbitrary number of tomographic planes of anatomy from a set of low-dose projection images acquired during a defined translation of an x-ray source, and provides for depth information relating to the projection images. The use of a digital flat panel, which may measure 40 centimeters (cm)×40 cm for example, allows large amounts of data to be collected with each exposure. The depth information carried by these tomographic planes is unavailable in conventional (projection) x-ray imaging.
With the introduction of tomosynthesis, it is possible to encode the depth information of the overlapping/underlying anatomical structures with the images. A minimum slice thickness (which is also referred to as a nominal slice thickness) of tomosynthetic image slices is determined primarily by a sweep angle of an x-ray source. Nominal slice thickness is usually defined by the full-width-half-maxima (FWHM) of the slice sensitivity profile (SSP), because the slice orientation is perpendicular to the x-ray detector panel. Although the nominal slice thickness may provide the maximum z-resolving power, thicker slices may provide practical benefit in many clinical settings.
Accordingly, the art of tomosynthesis imaging may be advanced by providing a method and system that is capable of generating and managing image slices of variable thickness.